Inextricabledrvr

I have a 97 Prelude SH with 230K miles. I was driving on the freeway and I heard a loud bang. They were both of my accessory belts breaking off. I pull over and exit and I see my crank pulley is hanging loose.

Anyone know if the crankshaft is toast? The car still sounded fine and it drove fine after the belts broke. I had the car towed since, I did not want to risk further damage.

Looking for some input...Need a new engine or just replace crank pulley?

Oh I forgot to mention that the main reason this happened was my alternator belt snapped while I was driving causing both accessory belts to break. I did purchase the belts from Autozone (2 months ago). I know I know. I was trying to save a few bucks and it backfired. I usually get OEM Honda parts.

Could I make a claim against them about the part failing?

What do you guys think? DO I have a case? I already submitted an email complaint.

minilogoguy18

Did the bolt come loose or did the pulley come apart into 2 pieces? It's common for crank pulleys to come apart on cars with high mileage since they are made to be 2 piece and use a rubber between them that acts as a damper for the crank.


Either way, unless the threads in the crank are gone then the crank is fine, only hurts things if you go a while with a cheap metal pulley but it coming off and the car only being run briefly isn't going to hurt.

snobordboy

Yeah, if your engine stayed in time, and the crank threads and shaft are not damaged, you should be fine.

Inextricabledrvr

The bolt came loose. I haven't taken the crank pulley off yet to look at it. I was able to hand tight the crank pulley bolt in the meantime until I get it fixed. The car will be sitting for a few days.

When the belts flew off I drove it about a mile to get to the next exit safely. The car was driving fine and it even started fine when I had to move to a safer spot off the freeway.

Inextricabledrvr

How would I know if it stayed in time? Car wouldn't start correct? I'll keep you guys posted if there's any damage in there.

snobordboy

Well, the car not starting would be one problem for sure.

The way I would check is to pull the valve cover and manually turn the engine to TDC and make sure all of the timing marks are still aligned, if so, you are golden.

Skillet09

I agree with snobordboi. Also, if you have that many miles on the car you might want to change out that crank pulley while your at it. My Lude had less miles than yours and the pulley seperated on me. The rubber in it eventually gets old and let loose on you.

dblair

It's also possible you sheared the key and gouged up the key way. You need to get it up, pull the wheel off and look at it. If the key way and the crank threads are OK it should be an easy fix.